''Four Nights with the Duke'' is a

historical romance Historical romance is a broad category of mass-market fiction focusing on romantic relationships in historical periods, which Walter Scott helped popularize in the early 19th century. Varieties Viking These books feature Vikings during the Da ...

novel written by

Eloisa James Eloisa James is the pen name of Mary Bly (born 1962). She is a tenured Shakespeare professor at Fordham University who also writes best-selling Regency and Georgian romance novels under her pen name. Her novels are published in 30 countries and ...

. It was published on March 31, 2015 by Avon and debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at number 6.

Background and publication

''Four Nights with the Duke'' is a sequel to James's 2014 novel, ''

Three Weeks With Lady X ''Three Weeks With Lady X'' is a historical romance written by Eloisa James and published in 2014. It was a ''New York Times'' Bestseller and was nominated for two ''Romantic Times'' awards. The novel is considered a Regency romance, with much o ...

''. These two novels are technically part of James's Desperate Duchesses series. According to James, her novels take about a year to write. She penned ''Four Nights with the Duke'' while living in London. James based the heroine partly on her own younger self, "a plump, funny wallflower with a secret career writing romances". The novel was released by Avon on March 31, 2015. Readers who pre-ordered the novel were sent an additional ten pages of text that was cut from the novel. The extra chapter revolved around the protagonists of ''Three Weeks With Lady X''.

Plot summary

The protagonists of the novel, Mia Carrington and Evander "Vander" Brody, were childhood acquaintances whose parents were involved in a long-term affair. The prologue details Mia's humiliation when, at age 15, another acquaintance ridicules her for writing a love poem to Vander. Thirteen years later, both are still single. Vander is now the Duke of Pindar, but eschews polite society to train racehorses at his estate. Mia is a very successful romance novelist, writing under a pen name. After her fiance leaves her at the altar, Mia is desperate. If she does not marry within the month, custody of her crippled nephew, Charlie, will revert to his evil uncle. Seeing few options for herself, Mia blackmails Vander into marriage. In a fit of anger, he announces he will grant her only four nights per year; Mia agrees to those terms. After the ceremony, Vander learns that Mia intends the marriage to be temporary. By now intrigued by her and quickly becoming attached to Charlie, Vander refuses to grant her an annulment. He insists on his four nights, and soon finds himself in love with his new wife.

Reception

Reviewers compared the novel very favorably to ''Three Weeks With Lady X''. A review in ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' highlighted the complex plot and richly drawn secondary characters and praised James for improving her storytelling abilities even further. The novel was a ''

Romantic Times ''Romantic Times'' was an American genre magazine specializing in romance novel A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love betwee ...

'' Top Pick, with a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars. The book debuted on the ''USA Today'' bestseller list at number 14 and on the New York Times Bestseller list for mass-market fiction at number 6.

References

{{reflist American romance novels English-language novels Regency romance novels 2015 American novels Avon (publisher) books